Europe creates smaller volcanic ash no-fly zones

France and Britain plan to open some airports Tuesday morning. European officials announced the creation of narrow flight corridors, shrinking the size of no-fly zones due to volcanic ash.

ByDavid Scott, Staff writerApril 19, 2010

An airplane lands after the airspace was reopened to flights at England's Manchester Airport Tuesday.

Phil Noble/Reuters

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A plume of volcanic ash rises from the volcano in southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier, Monday. European officials announced the creation of narrow flight corridors, shrinking the size of no-fly zones caused by the ash cloud.

Amid rising complaints over the closure of airports due to volcanic ash clouds, European officials will narrow their definitions of no-fly zones starting early Tuesday.

"On a national and European level, we have decided to move step by step toward a normalization, within the framework of strict security requirements," German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer told N24 television.

A European Union (EU) diplomat said earlier that there seemed to be a consensus around creating new zones with a smaller no-fly zone near to the volcano, and a wider zone where flights would be subject to safety restrictions and checks, but no ban, according to Reuters.

Individual governments were reportedly making decisions to open up more airports around Europe. France says it will allow flights between Paris and cities in southern France, while "partially reopening" some airports in northern France, according to Agence France-Press.

Germany's aviation authority also granted Lufthansa permission to make 50 passenger flights back to Germany, says the BBC.

But will the volcano in Iceland cooperate with these plans? A spokesman for the British national weather service, the Met Office, told the BBC that the eruptions had increased in the past couple of hours, spewing ash up to an altitude of 10,000 feet. Earlier in the day, the eruptions had subsided.